Avro 504c 8601 at Speeton.
On the night of 2nd / 3rd April 1916 Zeppelins attacked Northern England and Southern Scotland. L.14 dropped bombs on Leith and Edinburgh killing a number of civilians, L.22 believed it was releasing bombs over Newcastle but actually bombed fields near Berwick before heading north to Edinburgh and L.16 released bombs over the countryside to the north of Newcastle.
On 2nd April 1916 an RNAS Home Defence Flight aeroplane had taken off for an anti-Zeppelin patrol from RNAS Scarborough aerodrome and I find it highly likely it was sent up to intercept these three Zeppelins as they flew north over the North Sea. The engine of the Avro 504 failed, possibly off the Yorkshire coast, the pilot attempted a forced landing near Speeton but the aeroplane was damaged. It was recovered to RNAS Atwick and further damaged during a gale on 16th April 1916.
Pilot - FSL John Francis Roche RNAS.
John Francis Roche was born on 6th August 1888 in Dublin, Ireland. He initially served in the Army reserve between 1908 and 1912. He gained his Royal Aero Club aviators' certificate at the Beatty School, Hendon on 12th May 1915 (Cert.No.1234) then enlisted into the RNAS on 24th May 1915. He was posted to RNAS Redcar on 22nd July 1915, then RNAS Scarborough, then RNAS Killingholme on 5th January 1916 then back to RNAS Scarborough on 25th January 1916 where he appears to have served until 20th January 1917. He later became a flying instructor. In April 1918 he transferred to the newly formed RAF. In August 1919 he was granted a permanent commission as Captain in the RAF. By 1923 he was working in RAF Intelligence and received a posting to 70 Squadron in Iraq in Summer 1923. Nothing more is known about him. I cannot locate a suitable death registration for him in England; he may have returned to Dublin.
Avro 504c 8601 was built to contract 61138/15 by A.V. Roe Ltd in Manchester and was delivered to RNAS Scarborough for erection on 31st January 1916. It joined the Home Defence Flight. On 13th February 1916 it was force landed at Robin Hoods Bay but after a quick repair it returned to RNAS Scarborough on 15th February 1916. It transferred to RNAS Killingholme on 18th February 1916 but was back at RNAS Scarborough the next day. It suffered repairable damage in an accident at Speeton on 2nd April 1916 and was transported to RNAS Atwick for assessment but was further damaged in a gale at Atwick on 16th April 1916 and was considered beyond economic repair and deleted from charge on 1st May 1916.